What's New in Microsoft Dynamics 365 / CRM

Microsoft Dynamics 365 has seen 67% year on year growth as reported in November 2017.

This success is due to Microsoft’s investment in the product with a series of feature packed releases in recent years. The frequency of these updates can present a challenge when it comes to evaluating all the latest features and understanding how these will benefit your organisation. On this page we’ve provided a summary of the main improvements from releases during the last 5 years.

You can also check out the official Microsoft roadmap for a preview of what's coming next. If you are already using D365 we hope this is a useful list to check what's new and learn about the latest features to help with your upgrade plans.

Here to help

We recommend engaging with Preact to regularly review the results you are getting from Microsoft Dynamics 365, and get advice from our experts about how best to utilize the latest features. Contact us to discuss any of the latest features, or the process to streamline your Dynamics 365 / CRM upgrade.

The best way to keep up to date with the latest Dynamics 365 product news and technology changes is to join our mailing list.

Dynamics 365 - Spring 2018 Release

In addition to the release of new Marketing and Business Central apps, Microsoft announced some important changes to the technology and platform capabilities...READ MORE

Dynamics 365 - Version 9

Microsoft begun rolling our its next major update for Dynamics 365 in November 2017.

Read our post about What's New in Microsoft Dynamics 365 - Version 9 and watch a recording of our D365 Version 9 webinar.

This latest version includes:

Platform / application separation
Redefining the platform layer and breaking apps into role-based solutions for sales, finance & operations, customer service, talent, field service and more

Unified User Interface
Launch of a new unified interface that provides a consistent user experience across desktop, mobile, tablet and Outlook

Refreshed Web Interface
The UUI is the future interface of Dynamics but in the meantime, a refreshed web interface is available for existing D365 users

Text Wrapping
Enable text wrapping for field labels and field values

Multi-select fields
A much requested improvement enables multi-select option sets to be configured for Dynamics fields.

Security enhancements
New controls enabling administrators to define session lengths

Microsoft Flow
Configure new Flows from within the Dynamics 365 interface

Virtual Entities
A new solution to connect external data with D365 that avoids customer coding and data replication

Customer Engagement Portal
An example of the new Unified User Interface which replaces the Interactive Service Hub.

LinkedIn integration
Featuring new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form integration

Microsoft Dynamics 365 - November 2016

Microsoft unified its CRM, ERP and cloud solutions by introducing a new cloud service, Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Read our introduction and find out how the new service is licenced for existing Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online customers.

As part of the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM several new features will be added as part of Microsoft's 'Fall' 2016 update. 

Aside from the licensing and app change this release also includes:

Editable Grids
Make inline edits from CRM list views and sub-grids.

Outlook App
Improved app for tracking email and referencing CRM data in Outlook.

CRM Learning Paths
New capabilities and authoring to help with the on-boarding of new users. These promote videos, 'how to' guides and other content to walk them through CRM processes. 

Relationship Insights (Preview Feature)
Embedded AI capabilities that continuously analyse customer interactions to provide notifications that guide user action including Relationship Assistant alert cards. 

Gamification
Uses fantasy sports principle and new gaming capabilities to increase productivity through user engagement and competition.

Relevance Search
New option to match more CRM search terms and rank matching results

Dynamics CRM Online - Spring 2016 Wave

Microsoft begun rolling out its latest update for CRM Online in April 2016:

Guided User Navigation
Customisable guided navigation steps to help on-board new CRM users.

Customer Field on Custom Entities
Resolves a restriction with earlier releases enabling administrators to add customer look-up fields to forms for custom entities.

Social Engagement
Includes automated intent tagging that utilise machine learning to identify and automatically tag posts as complaints, sales enquiries, support requests and other forms of action intents. Other improvements include new rules for automated Dynamics case / lead creation.

Organisation Insights Dashboards
Enabling administrators to gain more insight about how users are interacting with Dynamics.

Web Portals
A new add-on module to connect customer web portals with Microsoft Dynamics CRM including options for clients to log service issues, post on forums and find answers by searching knowledge posts.

Project Service
Dedicated tools for project based organisations to manage their quotes, resources, work schedules and project billing.

Field Service
The earlier Field One solution is now embedded within the CRM interface as Field Service Service which integrates with the new Project Service module.

Read more detail about what's new in the Spring Wave

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Dynamics CRM 2016 - v8 "Ara"

This major update began rolling out in December 2015 for cloud and on-premise editions of Microsoft Dynamics but some features remains 'cloud only'. On-premise clients implementing CRM 2016 also receive the earlier updates that were previously included in the Online Spring 2015 Update.

One Click Document Generation
Create documents such as sales orders, contracts and agreements in a single click using pre-determined Word templates

Excel Templates
Extract CRM data into Excel using pre-defined templates

CRM Outlook App
A new app enabling Dynamics CRM Online users to track emails wherever Outlook is used. For the first time this includes Outlook for Mac and Outlook Web Access as well as Outlook 2016, Outlook Web Access on Edge, Firefox and IE 11 on PC.

CRM Mobile Improvements
Includes new mobile optimised controls on CRM forms, offline support and extended mobile security

Office 365 Groups Integration
Collaborate with team members and non-CRM users around specific topics to share emails, conversations and other resources from one central hub.

Hybrid Server Side Sync
Sync between Dynamics CRM Online and Exchange On-premise

Interactive Service Hub
New browser based app optimised for customer service teams

Voice of the Customer Surveys
New survey tool enabling questionnaires and other feedback forms to be distributed from Dynamics to collect customer opinions, ratings and views

Knowledge Management
New authoring and processes to efficiently share best practice and get contextual help in CRM

FieldOne Sky
Helping organisations improve service delivery by focusing on the scheduling of work orders for field based personnel

Read our post about what's new in Dynamics CRM 2016

Spring 2015 Update 1 - v7.1.0 "Carina"

This CRM Online update for cloud customers was released the second quarter of 2015 and was rolled up as part of wider CRM 2016 upgrade for On-Premise CRM later in the year:

New CRM User Experience
Redesigned navigation menu, recently viewed items list, instant area switch and quick jump form navigation

CRM Themes
Personalize the Dynamics with your logo and match the user interface with your preferred colours

Improved Performance
Including new turbo form rendering for drastically faster performance and reduced latency

Consistent Mobile Experience
New CRM mobile apps for iPhone, Android & Windows Mobile

Redesigned Excel Export
One click export to Excel that preserves the CRM list view

Works in Excel Online
Write bulk changes back to CRM

Improved Outlook Integration
File emails in CRM using any email application that support Exchange folders including Outlook Web Access

OneNote integration
Sync notes, drawings, recordings and images captured in OneNote to CRM contacts, accounts, leads and other records

Microsoft Social Engagement
Updated version of Microsoft Social Listening featuring a new social centre and extended engagement functions to create CRM actions from social posts and respond to posts using your Twitter or Facebook accounts

New Date Field Type
Track dates in isolation without the need to associate hours and minutes.

Search by 'Older Than'
New advanced find search criteria

New Admin Performance Dashboard
Assess the performance of entity components, measure trends and enable recommended system optimisations

Knowledge Integration
Connect Parature knowledge base functionality with Microsoft Dynamics Unified Service Desk

Read more about the Spring 2015 Update...

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 - v7.0.0 "Vega"

This update for CRM Online and On-Premise editions began rolling out in December 2014:

Improved Search
New global search box and advanced find functions added to the CRM navigation bar

Hierarchy Visualizations
View accounts, contacts or products in a relational hierarchal view

Product Family Enhancements
New functionality to bundle products, set product properties and cross sell using new CRM suggested items

Calculated Fields
New field type for automated field calculations using numerical and date values

Rollup Fields
Show roll up values from child to parent records, e.g. total value of all open opportunities on an account

Improvements to Business Rules
Featuring rules to set default field values and if/else, and/or rule criteria

Branching Logic for Guided Processes
Define branches based on field values entered in each process flow

Client API for business flows
Apply Javascript to fine tune the end user transitioning between process stages

Hierarchy Security Profiles
Quickly define robust CRM user access permissions using role based hierarchy structures

Field level security
Apply field security profiles to control user permissions to all fields including standard entities

Pause SLA’s
New functionality enabling users to pause case service level agreement timers

Custom Help
Replace Microsoft generic help pages with custom help resources personalised for your database and processes

Nested Quick Create
Create additional records in the same quick create experience

Read more about the CRM 2015 Update...

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Spring 14 Update SP1 - v6.1.0 "Leo"

Primarily focused on enhancing Microsoft Dynamics service capabilities this update included:

Entitlements Entity
Control what level of support each customer is entitled to receive

Service Level Agreements
Define customer service levels that apply for new support cases

Automatic Case Creation
New workflow case creation rules

Case Routing Rules
New native functionality to automatically route CRM cases to queues and users

Timer Control
Countdown timers to see remaining time available on opportunities, cases and other records where an expiry or performance KPI has been defined.

Improvements to CRM Queues
New Queue view detailing how many items are assigned to each queue + new private queue option

Case Hierarchies
Define parent and child relationships for inherited case properties and link frequently encountered service issues

Merge Cases
New option to merge duplicated service cases

Case Status Transitions
Define which case status reasons that CRM users can select based on the current status for each record

Unified Service Desk
Desktop application for service teams that pulls customer data from multiple data sources including CRM

Microsoft Social Listening
Track keywords and phrases that matter to you across social networks and measure sentiment trends

Read more about the Spring 14 Wave release...

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Microsoft CRM 2013 - v6.0.0 "Orion"

A major upgrade released in November 2013 featuring a reimagined CRM user interface:

New User Experience
New navigation menus, auto-save function, quick create function and add images to each record header including contacts and accounts

Flattened Interface
Removing CRM pop-ups to complete CRM functions in a single browser window, enables back / forward button navigation

Process Flows
Prescriptive guidance to help CRM users progress cases, leads, opportunities and other workflows in line with your rules and methodology

Business Rules
New native CRM functions that dynamically enforce process rules based on field values

Real Time Workflows
Configure synchronous CRM workflow processes in real time

Stage Gating
Additional rules that prevent users progressing any process including cases and leads if one or more conditions haven’t been met

CRM for Tablets
Free tablet apps for iPad and Window 8 tablets

New integrations
With Bing Maps, Yammer, Skype and Microsoft Lync

Read more about the Dynamics CRM 2013 release...

A preview of the new interface was released earlier in 2013 in a update codenamed ‘Polaris’.

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December 2012 Update

Cross browser CRM support with Firefox and Google Chrome browsers in addition to Internet Explorer.